Introduction

5.194In accordance with his usual practice, Himmler listed in manuscript the points which he proposed to raise with Hitler at their meeting on 10 December 1942. One of them reads: "Jews in France 600-700,000". Alongside those words there appears a tick. Himmler has also added in manuscript the word "abschaffen". Longerich translated this as "to liquidate". After his meeting with Hitler, Himmler sent a note to Muller, the head of the Gestapo, to the effect that the French Jews should be arrested and deported to a special camp (Sonderlager). At the same time Himmler secured the agreement of Hitler that a camp should be set up for 10,000 well-to-do Jews from France, Hungary and Romania, in conditions "whereby they remain healthy and alive".